Sunday, August 23, 2009

Better Late Than Never

While we were on our road trip vacation/reunion marathon we spent one day walking around downtown Portland taking pictures. I haven't been able to share the pictures before now because I moved all my pictures to an external drive and have only now hooked the drive to the new computer.

We spent late morning exploring the Portland Classical Chinese Garden in Historic Old Town. As luck would have it, we got there just as a docent-led tour was beginning and I tagged along for that while Scoob wandered off on his own. The tour was free with admission and very informative, if a little dry despite the docent's attempts to get people involved. The Chinese Garden covers an entire city block and it amazes me that Scoob and I were mesmerized and occupied for at least 2 hours, probably more, here.

We hoofed it west from the Chinese Gardens to Portland's Pearl District and just roamed the blocks seeing what there was to see. Unfortunately, we did our exploring on a Sunday and many of the shops and galleries were closed, but we still enjoyed the stroll. When I lived in the Portland area, this northwest section of the city was all industrial warehouses and rail yards. The transformation is amazing, though you can still see some of the area's history.

We stopped for a late lunch at BridgePort Brewpub at the northern edge of the Pearl District. I had a Blue Heron with my Mediterranean Plate ('cause you just shouldn't go to a brewpub without ordering a beer).

After lunch we started making our way back toward our hotel, detouring for Powell's Books (of course) and anything that caught our attention. We got some great shots as the sun was going down, but we didn't get out for any downtown nighttime photos. And I wrapped up my Sunday night with that whole bubble bath adventure.